Cold rain here. Good day to write an update.
My plan is to continue to post monthly til I hit my one year mark though I'm not having difficulties and am doing pretty darn good. I would guess my recovery has been a little better than average and I know I am lucky. I just remember seeing all the problems that people have before my surgery and being a bit frightened by that. This forum is here to support people, especially if you are having problems. So I'm hoping that my posts won't be seen as trying to compare but might serve as a close to average recovery thread for people contemplating surgery or wanting to look down the recovery path.
In spite of my generally good progress, I've had the usual surprises and difficulties: the numb spot (Why didn't my doc tell me about that beforehand?), quads that wouldn't work and hurt like heck on my right knee, an overagressive and uncommunicative physical therapist on my left knee, zingers, immense fatigue early on,, a doc who was concerned about my window of opportunity... But here's my late January report.
7 months on left knee, 4 months on right knee: Not much new, just gradual improvement at this point. It's winter so I'm not increasing my activity but feel like I could. I still take Tylenol twice a day but often forget so obviously not much pain. Occasional tenderness, occasional slight swelling, which I ice.
I feel totally stable doing things like standing on my toes to reach a high shelf, climbing a step ladder to paint my bathroom, cooking a meal without sitting down between every step, and cross country skiing. All things that definately did not feel stable before my surgeries! I was looking at some old vacation pictures and recognized my weird stance. I'd get one foot planted and leg braced, then settle the other foot about 2 feet from the first and sort of settle my body into it. I feel so upright!
Squatting is still a bit awkward and I use a stool to sit on when painting baseboards or working in a flower bed. Suspect that may not improve a lot but again, it is better than before my surgeries.
Essentially not thinking about my knees much, which is the goal. Oh yes, I got my 1st dose of the covid vaccine!